A band of 26 members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America making the rounds in Washington, D.C., on what has become an annual trip to talk about unemployment, education and health care has one bit of disappointment — and even a bit of insult

The group arranged numerous meetings with top government leaders, but “the one meeting we couldn’t get was at the VA,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a former Army officer who is founder and executive director of IAVA.

“In fact, we haven’t been able to get a meeting in more than 1,000 days, which seems very odd considering all of the issues facing veterans that we would like to discuss,” Rieckhoff said.

A key issue that IAVA is pushing during its visit is a membership survey, based on responses from about 4,000 people, that found widespread employment problems, general dissatisfaction with how the Veterans Affairs Department is treating mental health and trauma resulting from sexual assault, and concerns about whether VA and the Defense Department are doing enough to inform veterans about what help is available.